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NEW YORK — The ball flew long from her opponent, and North Carolina senior Fiona Crawley grasped her mouth and covered it, which is not something the loquacious, energetic Crawley does much at all. The bundle of 24–7 energy and enthusiasm walked over to her towel at the back of Court 6 here at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, fist-bumped a man in a Carolina cap, and slowly walked to the net, still seeming unsure if she could believe what she had just done.
CHAPEL HILL — The transition from Erin Matson, one the best college field hockey players in the sport’s history, to Coach Erin is complete. As she leads many of her former teammates — including one who is older — the team calls the 23-year-old first-year head coach Erin. But there’s plenty of respect for Matson, whose top-ranked team beat No. 4 Michigan 3–2 Friday night in her coaching debut at Karen Shelton Stadium in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge before a record crowd.
CHAPEL HILL — The scoring chances kept coming for No. 3 Carolina down the stretch. But a player wearing light blue denied the Tar Heels repeatedly. The Tar Heels played well and were unrelenting on defense. But Wisconsin fifth-year goalkeeper Erin McKinney, clad in shorts and a jersey that were light blue, made terrific saves all afternoon as the teams played to a scoreless draw on a steamy Thursday afternoon at Dorrance Field.
North Carolina fell one spot to No. 3 in the latest United Soccer Coaches women’s Top 25 on Tuesday, but star freshman center back Savy King in ACC Defensive Player of the Week. The Tar Heels (1–0–1) played Penn State (1–0–1) to a scoreless draw Thursday before knocking off Cal 3–1 in their home opener on Sunday. The Nittany Lions moved up two spots to No. 8.
From the last season’s final September poll until Erin Matson led North Carolina to the field hockey national championship, the Tar Heels were No. 1 in the NFHCA National Coaches Poll. Matson will begin her head coaching career with her team back in the same spot as UNC tops the preseason poll, released on Tuesday.
Sam Howell turned in another efficient performance Monday in his first exhibition game appearance since Washington Commanders coach Ron Rivera officially named the second-year quarterback his starter. His big night was topped when he connected with former UNC teammate Dyami Brown for one of two touchdown passes he threw in the final 1:49 of the first half.
The ACC came to expect high achievement from North Carolina when Erin Matson was the best field hockey player in the country, and those expectations haven’t changed with her head coaching debut ahead on Friday. In the preseason ACC poll released on Monday, UNC is the favorite to win its seventh consecutive league title after going undefeated last season and winning the program’s 10th national title season, the final year under Coach Karen Shelton.
CHAPEL HILL — UNC women’s soccer coach Anson Dorrance has no interest in the ACC adding Stanford and Cal, clearly backing Carolina’s reported vote against such a move. After the Tar Heels beat the Bears 3–1 in their home opener on Sunday, he bristled at any suggestion that the matchup could be a conference game in the future.
CHAPEL HILL — Carolina’s freshmen haven’t taken long to prove they’re worthy of being ranked the country’s No. 1 group in the class. Two freshmen, Melina Rebimbas and Olivia Thomas, scored their first college goals and another, Mia Oliaro, added an assist to lead No. 2 North Carolina to a 3–1 victory Sunday over Cal at Dorrance Field in its home opener.
Javonte Williams made his preseason debut for the Denver Broncos after his long recovery from right knee surgery and declared that he is 100%. His performance was productive for the number of snaps he got — 12 rushing yards on three carries and four catches for 18 yards — and just being back on the field for the Broncos’ 21–20 exhibition loss Saturday at San Francisco was huge.
The summer has been full of new experiences for Caleb Love, who first thought he would transfer from Carolina to Michigan and then joined former UNC assistant coach Steve Robinson at Arizona. Not only has Love played his first games in an Arizona uniform this month, although they were just exhibitions, he traveled outside of the country for the first time. The team went on a 10-day tour to Israel and the United Arab Emirates, playing in three exhibitions.
No. 2-ranked North Carolina couldn’t create enough quality chances, but the Tar Heels’ defense and goalkeeping stood tall in an opening-game 0–0 draw against No. 10 Penn State at State College, Pa., on a soggy field. While the Tar Heels held a 19–5 shot advantage, they only got two shots on goal compared to three for Penn State.
CHAPEL HILL — When Anson Dorrance knows his Carolina women’s soccer team is one of the best in the country, he has a history of putting together a schedule that challenges his players. He took that to extremes 31 years ago for a team that included Mia Hamm and Christine Lilly, stacking four games in four days on the West Coast.
North Carolina is ranked in the preseason AP Top 25 football poll for the third time in four seasons. The Tar Heels are No. 21 in the poll, released Monday, the lowest preseason poll appearances in Coach Mack Brown’s second stint in Chapel Hill after being ranked No. 18 in 2020 and No. 10 in 2021.
North Carolina’s incoming freshman baseball class is among the top 10 in the country and ranked the best in the ACC despite losing two recruits who signed with major-league organizations.
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